THE MR. I.A. MOTO RADIO DISCOVERY

From May 20 to October 20, 1951, the fictional character of Mr. Moto, created by John Marquand in his eight novels, was licensed for a short-lived radio series titled, Mr. I.A. Moto. And a recent discovery makes us radio historians cheer for joy.

John Marquand’s incarnation of the printed page features a more menacing Japanese than the motion-picture and radio counterpart. In the novels, Mr. Moto is shrewd, tough and ruthless against his enemies, but to most people in most situations he appears to be a harmless eccentric who sometimes calls himself stupid. The main characters in the novels were Westerners (usually Americans) who encounter Mr. Moto in the course of their adventures in exotic lands and gradually come to realize what a formidable character he is.

 

In the first novel, Thank You, Mr. Moto (1936), an expatriate American gets involved in intrigue in Peking when he tries to save an American woman from unscrupulous art dealers. Moto tries to save them both from a military takeover of Peking. Marquand was labeled by many as the father of the American novel and both wit, style and prose in this novel demonstrate justification. (This is a fantastic novel worth reading, in my opinion.)

 

In the first five novels, set in the era of expansionist Imperial Japan, Mr. Moto is an agent of the empire. In the final novel, written in 1957, the adventures do not take place in the 1930s but instead are set in the 1950s inside Japan, and Moto is a senior intelligence official in the pro-Western Japanese government. It is assumed he moved his way up in the ranks.

 

Between 1937 and 1939 eight motion pictures were produced by 20^th Century Fox, starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Kentaro Moto. Unlike in the novels, this rendition was a detective with Interpol, who wore glasses (and has no gold teeth), and is a devout Buddhist (and friendly with the Chinese monarchy). He is impeccably dressed in Western suits. His tendency to wear disguises was only flawed by the fact that the audience could easily distinguish the actor playing him. But those are fun films and the studio was justified in creating a series of movies to cash in on further popularity (and profits) from the Charlie Chan films.

For the 1951 radio incarnation, which lasted a mere 23 weeks, the character was revised once again. He was now an American who, with the subtlety of his Oriental ancestors, fought the war against Communism using his brains, courage and fabulous knowledge of the world. The radio broadcasts were recorded in a New York studio at NBC, with the usual stock actors of stage and radio playing the supporting roles. James Monks played the title role. 

Among the discoveries was two radio scripts for the same episode, but with different titles. "The Karaloff Paper" (broadcast on the West Coast, June 13) and "The Bazaloff Paper" (broadcast on the East Coast, June 17). Naturally, websites including Wikipedia have listed the titles of these episodes (and other episodes in the series) with incorrect spelling, which is what makes these radio scripts all the more valuable. Wait... did I say radio scripts?

That is the good news. All 23 radio scripts, including the two versions of the June 17 broadcast, have been scanned into PDF. This also includes complete cast lists, notations of initial cast proposals, music cues, behind-the-scenes legal complications, pages of deleted dialogue, and more. Digital preservation has also been assured with off-site backups so even against flood or fire they will survive.

Presently the radio program is being fully documented in detail thanks to this archival discovery, and a number of plot elements that were borrowed from the novels and incorporated into the radio dramas are being matched up. In short time there should be an article for a magazine documenting the history of the series that should dominate anything previously set to print.